Summer in Enchantia Read Free

clustered around the telescope, pushing each other out of the way, all shouting.
    “Look at it! It’s massive!”
    “Check out those diamonds!”
    “Where did it come from?”
    “Who cares!”
    Some of the voices sounded familiar. Rosa peered more closely and caught her breath. The pirates were a mixture of big burly men and man-sized mice! Each of them had a sharp cutlass hanging from their leather belt. They wore bandanas, boots and big baggy trousers. The human pirates were big and muscly and several ofthem had wooden legs, but the mice looked even scarier. Their eyes gleamed beadily and when they opened their mouths to shout and snigger they showed off rows of pointed teeth.
    “Mice!” whispered Rosa, turning to Nutmeg. “That must mean the pirates are something to do with —”
    “What’s going on?” snarled a voice on the ship.
    “King Rat!” breathed Rosa as a giant rat strode into view. He wore a big black pirate hat and had a long curly wig and a moustache.
    “It’s treasure, Captain!” one of the pirates said.
    King Rat grabbed the telescope. His redeyes gleamed greedily. “Go on, then! What are you waiting for? I want that treasure now. To the rowing boats, me hearties!”

    “Aye aye, Captain!” cried the pirates.
    Rosa and Nutmeg watched as the crew quickly lowered three rowing boats from the deck into the water and then climbed down rope ladders hanging over the side of the ship.
    “Yo ho ho and a bottle of bilberry wine!” they roared as they started to row towards the beach, their strong arms pulling the boats swiftly through the waves.
    Nutmeg waved her wand and the mist vanished. “They’re coming!”
    Rosa gulped. Now the pirates were actually heading towards them, swearing and shouting, she was beginning to wonder if her plan was such a wise idea. The pirates’ curved swords looked razor sharp.
    And did she really want to be on a pirate ship with King Rat? But then she thought of the stolen treasure and how sad everyone would be if the gardenparty was spoiled. She had to do something! She saw Nutmeg’s worried face, and reached out and squeezed her hand. “We’ll be OK. This plan will work.”
    The pirates pulled the rowing boats on to the beach. Jumping out, they ran to the treasure chest. Rosa took a deep breath. “Come on!” she hissed to Nutmeg. “Let’s join them!”

The pirates had clustered around the huge treasure chest on the beach. They were so busy looking at all the diamonds that they didn’t notice Rosa and Nutmeg creeping out from behind the trees. Rosa wrinkled her nose as she edged into the crowd. It wasn’t very pleasant being so close to the pirates. They smelt as if they hadn’t washedfor a long time. The mouse pirates’ fur was greasy and the human pirates had grubby skin. They were all very loud, shouting over the top of each other and elbowing each other out of the way as they plunged their hands and paws into the diamonds.
    “We’d better get this chest back to the captain,” said one of the mice. Shutting the lid, they started to heave at the chest. Rosa and Nutmeg joined in.
    “You, boy!” snapped a voice.
    Rosa froze and looked round. A mouse pirate with an eye patch was pointing at her. Had he realised that she wasn’t part of the crew?
    “M … me?” she stammered.
    “Yes, you! I don’t recognise you.” Hefrowned at Nutmeg. “Or you!” His frown deepened.
    Rosa had never thought so fast in her life. “That’s because … because we were on the ship that this treasure came from,” she said. “We were supposed to wait here with it until the people from the palace came to collect it. But … but …”
    “We’ve always wanted to be pirates!” Nutmeg put in quickly. “And when we saw you we hoped that we could maybe join you.”
    The mouse’s eyes narrowed for a moment, but then he seemed to believe them and nodded. “Sensible lads,” he grunted approvingly.
    “So can we join your crew?” asked Rosa.
    “We’ll work